1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to devices for removing stored fluids; specifically, to hand-pumping mechanisms for dispensing bottled viscous liquids and attachments thereof.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Various liquids and liquid-like products are sold and/or stored in bottles. Some non-limiting examples of such products are lotions, soaps, creams, condiments and oils. One manner in which a consumer is able to extract the product enclosed in such bottles is via a hand-pumping mechanism. These hand-pumping mechanisms generally consist of an exposed depressible dispenser connected perpendicularly to a hollow reservoir chamber enclosed within the bottle and connected to one end of a hollow cylindrical tube. Customarily, such pumping mechanism is inserted through the top center of the bottle while the open end of the tube is immersed into the product and extended to the inside center floor of the bottle.
When the dispenser is depressed, the resulting change in pressure within the mechanism causes the product near the opening of the tube to flow out through the tube, reservoir and dispenser. However, if the tube opening is not immersed or nearly-immersed in the product, depressing the dispenser will result in the air contained within the bottle being dispensed, rather than any product which may yet still remain inside the bottle at another location therein.
Since the product must immerse or nearly-immerse the opening of the tube in order to dispense, the hand-pump mechanism does not completely meet the need of the art in effectively and efficiently extracting a liquid from its container. This problem is especially salient when utilizing this mechanism to dispense more viscous liquids. As reported in the September 2009 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, dispensation of skin lotion product via the hand-pump mechanism failed to extract on average 17%-25% of product from each bottle.
While there has been other pertinent art designed to overcome efficiency problems arising from the extraction of bottled liquids—by modifying the structure of the bottle (US 2013/0037557 A1) or by fashioning independent scooping tools for use as an alternative extraction device (US 2012/0280525 A1)—there is nothing which would purport to remedy the problem by modifying the hand-pump mechanism itself.